The Western Nebraska Community College baseball needed two wins Friday to lock up the second seed for the Region IX tournament next weekend.

Instead, the two teams split contests at Cleveland Field which sets up Saturday’s regular season final between the two teams as pivotal with the winner claiming the second seed for regionals while the loser will get the third seed. The first and second seeds will get a first-round bye in the regional tournament while the next four teams will have to play a first-round playoff game in the regional tournament that begins Thursday in Pueblo, Colorado.

Saturday’s 9-inning contest will begin at 5:30 p.m. in Sterling, Colorado.

Friday’s contest went WNCC way in the opener as the Cougars registered a 7-3 win and only trailed once in the contest. The second game saw NJC earn the 5-0 win.

The first game saw NJC start fast as they got one run in the first inning with two outs. WNCC stayed composed and retied the game with a run in the second when Ren Sato reached on an error and scored on a Will Harbison single.

The Cougars went up 4-1 with three in the third as Calab Caciari walked and Vaughn Wilson followed with a double. Jin Kobayakawa followed as he delivered a 3-run home run for his parents who flew in from Japan to watch the freshman play. WNCC led 4-1 after three.

NJC followed with a run in the fourth to make it 4-2.

The lead stayed that way until the sixth when the Cougars added three more runs. All the runs started with two outs. Harbison got things going with a single followed by Kensei Oikawa earning a walk. Caciari followed with a 2-run double to make it 6-2. Caciari scored on a Wilson single.

NJC got one back in the seventh on a home run, but that was it for the Plainsmen.

WNCC finished with nine hits in the contest. Wilson and Harbison led the way with three hits each. Wilson had a single, double, and triple, while Harbison had a double. Kobayakawa had two hits with a home run and three RBIs.

Julian Garza picked up the win, going five innings in scattering five hits, walking four, and striking out two. Zane Hendrickx tossed the sixth in striking out two and then Alex Renfrow picked up the save, tossing the seventh with just one hit.

The second game saw the Cougars manage six hits and couldn’t get the base hit when needed to score the runners when they got on. On the other side, the NJC defense was making plays to thwart WNCC’s scoring changes.

NJC pitcher Tony Slizowski went the distance in scattering six hits and striking out seven. WNCC starting pitcher Rocco Harmon went six strong innings in allowing just two runs while allowing six hits. Harmon also struck out eight.

WNCC fell behind 2-0 after NJC plated single runs in the second and third innings.

WNCC had a golden opportunity to score first in the first inning as they got the first two batters aboard after Caciari and Wilson each singled, but couldn’t score them.

WNCC had another opportunity to score in the fifth when Kyler Adams was hit by a pitch to lead off the inning and then Caciari singled with one out, but an inning-ending double play got NJC out of the jam.

NJC plated three insurance runs in the seventh to make it 5-0. WNCC tried to mount a comeback in the seventh as Catcher Gladysh and Ren Sato each had singles, but that was all the Cougars could get.

Caciari led the offense with two of the team’s six hits.

Game 1
NJC                       100 100 1 – 3 8 0
WNCC                013 003 x – 7 9 0
WP – Julian Garza; S – Alex Renfrow.
2B – Calab Caciara, Vaughn Wilson, Will Harbison.
3B – Vaughn Wilson.
HR – Jin Kobayakawa.

Game 2
NJC                       011 000 3 – 5 10 1
WNCC                000 000 0 – 0 6 2
LP – Rocco Harmon.

WNCC wins Region IX tourney opener

MCCOOK – The Western Nebraska Community College softball team opened the Region IX tournament in McCook with an 11-5 win over No. 2 Otero College Friday.

The Cougars, who pounded out 11 hits in the win, will face McCook Community College in the winner’s bracket final at 1:30 p.m. MST on Saturday. The winner of that game advances to the championship game slated for 11 a.m. MST on Sunday. McCook defeated Trinidad State 10-3 on Friday in the other first-round game.

Trinidad and Otero will play an elimination game Saturday morning. The winner of that game will then play another elimination game against the loser of the WNCC/McCook contest Saturday evening with the winner of that game going to the championship on Sunday.

Friday’s win was one where the Cougars took control early with three runs in the first inning after Lydia Tibbals blasted a 3-0 home run. The Cougars went up 9-0 with a 6-run third inning.

WNCC loaded the bases as Tibbals singled, JoLee Huffaker had a double and Mykah Klumpp earned a walk. Tori Travers followed with a 2-run single. After a single by Alyssa Albaugh, Randi Mitchell singled to score two more runs. Albaugh made it 8-0 after tagging up on a sacrifice fly and Mitchell closed out the scoring, scoring on a passed ball.

Otero came back with two in the fourth to make it 9-2. WNCC responded with one in the fifth when Tina Horton double in Mitchell.

The Rattlers plated three in the fifth to slice the deficit in half at 10-5. WNCC followed with a run in the sixth. Huffaker led off with a triple and scored on a Klumpp sacrifice fly.

WNCC then got the Otero hitters to go 1-2-3 in the final inning as starting pitcher Kayli Cooper got the last batter to strikeout. It was Cooper’s seventh strikeout of the game. Cooper scattered eight hits in the contest and walked just one.

Offensively, Huffaker led the way with a 3-for-3 ocntest with two runs scored with a double and triple.

Mitchell, Horton, and Tibbals all had two hits on the day. Mitchell had a double with two runs scored and two RBIS. Horton tallied a double with two RBIs, while Tibbals had a home run with three RBIs and two runs scored.

The win moves the Cougars to 26-23 on the season.

WNCC                306 011 0 – 11 11 2
Otero                   000 230 0 – 5 5 4
WP – Kayli Cooper.
2B – Randi Mitchell, Tina Horton, JoLee Huffaker.
3B – JoLee Huffaker.
HR – Lydia Tibbals.